


Takes Place in the Corners

by jesterlady



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Backstory, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-07
Updated: 2011-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-25 19:22:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/273867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesterlady/pseuds/jesterlady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor learns to talk to Martha, mostly through stories</p>
            </blockquote>





	Takes Place in the Corners

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own DW. The title is by Eugene Peterson

It had become a habit for them. Ever since they’d been to New New York and he’d started to talk about Gallifrey. It was like a well that had been sealed was now cracked and information kept leaking through. She imagined he never meant for that to happen and she suspected that she wouldn’t be his first choice for receiver of said leaking information.

Until she began to realize that he loved it when she asked questions. Definitely not something she detected at first, but, gradually, all the bad memories seemed to be purged and the good ones came through. All the grief of the good memories became sweetened with remembrance.

She loved being able to help him with that.

They would talk during quiet moments of which there were few. In the console or the kitchen, sometimes he would bounce in her room in the middle of the night with an amazing story that seemingly couldn’t wait till morning. But most often, they’d just be sprawled on the couch, empty plates littering the floor, low music turned on in the background. It was safe, comfortable, right.

“I knew you were over nine hundred, but you’re in your tenth body? That’s amazing, Doctor.”

“I tell you, Martha Jones, not nearly as amazing as you’d think. All part and parcel of the Timelord way.”

“But don’t you get confused? Don’t people not recognize you? Can you remember everything? Are you the same person?”

“Hold off there.” The Doctor chucked some paper at her, lazily playing with his screwdriver. “Regeneration is a dizzying process to be sure. I got a bit sick last time, nearly let pilot fish do some Christmas tree slaughtering. But I’m the same man. Just different.”

“That makes no sense in human logic, you do understand that?”

“Yup. Little minds.”

“Shut it,” she said, laughing.

“Big hearts,” he conceded, winking at her.

“Oh, thanks. Now come on. If I could use this in one of my papers for school, I’d love it. Course then I’d be sectioned, so I don’t think I will.”

“Oh, the things I could teach you.”

“I’m waiting.”

“Right then. You asked for it.” He bounced up to a sitting position. “First thing tomorrow, Doctor Jones, is your first lesson in alien physiology, beginning with Timelords.”

“Pompous lot.”

“Extraordinarily so. And don’t you just love it?”

“A bit, yeah.” She grinned at him. “Okay, so you travel in time and so have all your other bodies. Can’t you, like, crash into yourself? Obviously you wouldn’t go where you were before, but can’t past selves crash into future selves or something if they didn’t know they were going to be there? Though you’d remember where you’d gone, but say maybe you were just having an off day?”

“Brilliant deduction. But no. We can see time differently. Our Tardis helps of course, but it takes a lot for us to get together. Usually it has to be done deliberately by the High Council.” His voice faltered for a second. “Happens even less now, you can imagine.”

“It’s okay.” She put her hand on his arm, anchoring him out of his memories. “How would it happen?”

“Right. Um, well, okay…” He leaned forward, putting his hands under his chin. “My third self was stuck on Earth, working with Unit. One day, Omega, old Timelord who we thought was destroyed, sucks matter into a black hole. Timelords are all on the frantic side, and since I’m on the front line, rather literally, being sucked up with Jo, they send me my other two selves, plucked out of their own two timestreams.”

“And?” Martha was on the edge of her seat. “What happened?”

“Well, me number one got stuck, but me number two made it. Had a grand time arguing over the recorder. I’m more reconciled to it now again. Get a bit musical every few regenerations. Anyway…”

“You’re the worst linear storyteller in the world, Doctor.”

“Hang on for the best bits. Gotta tell it all in an exciting way.”

“It’s your life; of course it’s going to be exciting.”

“Stick with me and you’ll find out how exciting.”

“I plan to.”

“Good. Like having you around. So...” he continued, ignoring the exchange they’d just had “...Brigadier and my second self join up and we all get home safe.”

“And Omega?”

“Story for another time,” he said, suddenly seeming sad.

“You promise?”

“Always.” He took her hand. “Grounding Martha.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said dryly.

“Don’t lose it.” He flopped on the floor and looked up at her with his hands behind his head. “Wanna hear about the time my first, second, third, and fifth selves got rounded up with Susan, the Brigadier, Sarah Jane, Tegan, Turlough and the Master, and put in the Death Zone on Gallifrey by the President?”

“You know it!”


End file.
